by Steve “Tuna” Tornovish
Hurricanes make for wonderful metaphors but lousy forecasts. Hurricane Erin came a’ creeping up the east coast and ruined a lot of late August plans. Number one on my list was the Derby Day fishing event, wisely cancelled out of an abundance of caution. High winds, rip currents, and huge ocean swells are not conducive to a great family beach day. On the bright side, some of the surfing pictures and videos that came from the southern shores of Nantucket are flatout amazing. The good with the bad, right?
Storm systems tend to get my little pea of a brain wandering. I spent altogether too much time this past week pondering what hurricane songs are the best. I always loved Bob Dylan’s The Hurricane, a song about Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, the middleweight boxer and convicted triple murderer. Did he do it? Was he railroaded by a racist justice system? Does this song even involve weather? Lots of debate, for sure, but certainly a fantastic Dylan song. Trying to Reason with Hurricane Season by Jimmy Buffett floats whimsically along, a long-time favorite of mine; Rock You Like a Hurricane by the Scorpions – meh. Never was much of a hair band guy. Hurricane by Band of Heathens, written by the great Levon Helm about a storm bearing down on New Orleans, has a foreboding darkness that I can’t resist, and Hurricane by Luke Combs is Country’s best storm offering by far – well written, catchy and country cool. But the best of them all has to be Neil Young’s Like a Hurricane. Oh, that haunting guitar riff! And that line about the calm in her eyes…yessir, I get so blown away by this song!
Alright, enough of that. What’s going on with our beaches due to Erin? As suspected, the massive storm surge closed Great Point down for a time. The Trustees of Reservations posted this update on Friday, August 22: “The Refuge will remain closed to the public on Saturday, 8/23 and Sunday, 8/24, due to costal erosion along the east-facing beach and flooding on the Refuge access trail caused by Hurricane Erin. This closure will give staff time to address storm-related conditions and ensure a safe reopening.” This notice was updated on August 24 to include closure to vehicles on August 25, stating “High tide inundation continues along our east-facing shoreline. There is no driving corridor. The erosion has caused a slope that is difficult to drive. These conditions present safety concerns for visitors and threaten the health of the barrier beach ecosystem.” [Text CCWRTTOR to (888)313-1761 for real time beach updates.]
The Trustees staff does a great job of keeping their patrons informed. Gotta love that, right? So what’s happening in Madaket, you ask? Um, yeah, tough to say. I’ve heard through my fishing grapevine that it’s closed for now [as of press date]. That isn’t unexpected; maybe the Town will let us know. Maybe not. I guess the best we can do for now is park out by The Crooked House and enjoy the lovely view of the wind farm until further notice.
Historically, our eastern and westernmost points tend to take a drubbing in hurricanes. Let’s travel back in time to late September of 1961 to revisit Hurricane Esther. Esther was pretty much a direct hit on Nantucket. It opened a channel between the tip of Smith’s Point in Madaket and the rest of Nantucket, thus forming Esther’s Island. That became the new normal for the next 25 or so years, until the wayward island made its amends with Nantucket and rejoined us. I recall fishing at Smith’s Point, casting towards Esther’s Island. The expanse between the two places then seemed to have been similar to the distance currently between Tuckernuck and the new (old) tip of Smith’s Point. It’s hard to envision the give and take of nature could change the landscape that much in such a short time but there it is!
As for Great Point, that skinny peninsula has been adjusted by Mother Nature from time to time as well. Amy Jenness, writing for the September 8, 2016 edition of Yesterday’s Island/Today’s Nantucket, reported the following: “Hurricane Bob approached the island in late August 1991. Bob was one of the smallest storms in area size, yet was one of the most intense to hit southern New England since 1938. Bob brought a tidal surge that was 10 feet above normal and several Cape Cod weather watchers reported unofficial gusts of 150 mph.
Two months later, on October 30, the most destructive storm ever to hit Nantucket landed. It has no official name, but has been called the “No Name Storm” and “The Perfect Storm.” It began as a nor’easter and evolved into a hurricane.”
Yikes! The No Name Storm even turned the tip of Great Point into an island for about five months. Jenness added, “At one point the gap between Great Point and Nantucket was a quarter mile wide and six feet deep. Shifting sands eventually filled it and reconnected it to the island.”
The bottom line is that storms happen in life and things change. Some beaches erode, others build up. It happens. No wonder this metaphor is so perfect for songs! And me worrying about the storms in our lives isn’t going to change much at all. The ultimate answer is that we all have to have faith. Yes, indeed. And yet, one important question remained: where could I go fishing in this post- Erin mess?
Modern technology came to my rescue. My buddy Dave Small hit me up, reporting that there was no room available on the north shore on that Saturday afternoon. The beach was packed with folks grabbing at one of the last weekends of the summer. I’m not sure if that beach still has the “rich dude area” blocked off or not, and it hurts my heart to ask. Dave’s report also indicated that no fish were being caught, so I crossed that spot off the dwindling list. Shortly thereafter, I received a text from my niece, Meri Lepore. She told me that her eight-yearold son Henry had caught a huge striped bass at Point O’ Breakers. That was what I wanted to hear! I threw a couple of fishing rods into my truck and headed that way.
Henry and his dad Matt Peele were having the best day ever (that’s a Spongebob reference for a lot of you). Henry gave me a big hug and told me excitedly about his fish. “I didn’t think I could reel it in! It was so strong!” Matt told me that he had thrown a bottom rig out for Henry, hoping to perhaps catch a dogfish. A big ol’ striper had found the hunk of squid to be irresistible. Henry saw the line screaming off the reel, set the drag and hooked the fish. It was a beauty, fitting just into the slot size. Henry had caught dinner and he couldn’t have been more proud!
Matt and Henry were exactly what I needed on that post-Erin Saturday. I didn’t take a single cast. I didn’t need to. Sharing a little time with Matt and Henry reminded me that storms will pass and life will return to normal. It was just what I needed. Who knows, maybe there’s a song in there somewhere.
Steve “Tuna” Tornovish is a Nantucket native who has spent his life fishing from the beaches of his beloved island. He loves to introduce clients to the joy of fishing with his Nantucket Island Fishing Adventures: stevetuna.com
